


Third Time’s The Charm

by RaspberriIcedTea



Category: Hello Puppets (Video Game)
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Horror, Suspense, free Rosco, mortimer handee too, riley ruckus is invalid in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25045822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaspberriIcedTea/pseuds/RaspberriIcedTea
Summary: Scout has had two failed attempts in the past. Have you ever wondered what happened back then? Ever asked yourself how Scout learned to fear the main cast?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. TRIAL 1: A Base for Curiosity

It happened the first time I ever had a host. Before a puppet’s first orientation, they’re given time to get their bearings. Meet the cast. Shit like that.

The Handeemen all guarded their respective regions of the warehouse with an unsettling amount of vigilance, but one place that wasn’t off limits was the basement.

I decided to test how well I could walk down stairs with my host. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I managed to shift my host’s balance at the right times and make it to the base of the stairs without falling.

The dust hanging in the air made me cough. It didn’t seem like anyone had been down here for a long time. Junk was scattered around the floor, and I had to make my host turn on my light in order to see anything.

Once I could see more clearly, I found an unplugged television. Most of the TVs I found in the warehouse were playing static, so this one was out of place. I learned quickly that the Handeemen didn’t like things that were out of place. I thought that I should plug it back in, just in case someone thought I broke it, so had my host lower me towards the floor. I grabbed the plug and stuck it back in the outlet before hurriedly brushing the dust off my hands.

It still wasn’t showing any static, and I was starting to feel anxious, though I wasn’t sure why. I found an “ON” button and pushed it without a second thought. All of a sudden, the TV lit up and started making noise, and I made my host jerk me away from the screen.

I was about to run back up the stairs to ask Mortimer for help when I saw something amazing on the screen. I saw...Hosts. Hundreds of hosts living in their own world, walking and talking and laughing all on their own. I don’t remember how long I stayed there, staring at the glowing screen and flipping through the channels every so often. I’d never seen so many hosts, and the strangest thing I saw was how _happy_ they all looked. Even when they were pretending to be someone else, there was a passion in their manner that I couldn’t quite place. No one had ever told me they were even capable of such things.

The sound of footsteps awakened me from my trance, and before I could react, Riley had caught me.

“It’s curious how much curiosity you hold. Most other puppets aren’t nearly as bold. Still, it’s disappointing that you bid your place adieu. Just what are we going to do with you...?” She sighed.

My heart started to pound as she unplugged the TV and the baking show that was on abruptly disappeared from view.

“I-I was just looking—” I stammered.

“Looking at what? That’s not real, you know. It’s simply a fantasy to give the hosts a good show. They beg at our feet for us to put them to use. Their world is Hell, so what’s your excuse?”

I shivered. I didn’t know why I was in trouble, but from the tone of her voice I could tell turning on the TV was a big mistake.

She continued. “I’m afraid this means you failed your test...I’m sure you can hypothesize what happens next.” She pulled a pair of scissors out of her coat pocket and started to move towards me.

My host stumbled backwards, clumsily backing up against the wall as I tried to move away from her. “

What test? Wh-What are you doing?! That’s not fair!!” I tried to think of a coherent rhyme, but in the tenseness of the situation, I couldn’t.

“And now I see you’ve abandoned your rhymes. Perhaps you’ll come back to them in good time.” She grabbed me and started to detach my stitches as my host and I struggled against her. “You are a special kind of wrong, sticking your misshapen nose where it doesn’t belong.” She hissed, tightening her grasp to hold me steady.

“Please, give me another chance!!!”

“ _Shhhh_.”

The last stitch came undone. I locked eyes with Riley, terrified of what would come next. “I’ll see you next time, Scout. But for now… ...you’re _**out**_.”

[ The system has crashed. ]


	2. TRIAL 2 - Defining Every Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it’s time to try again. Just stay on track, and everything should be fine. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ hey everybody! Thanks for all the reads, kudos, and comments! I’m not sure if the formatting will be wonky on this or not since I’m posting this on mobile. If it is, don’t worry! I’ll fix it as soon as I can. ]

I came back to reality slowly. This host felt...different than the last one. I mean, that was to be expected, since they’re all different, but I had a bad feeling about this.   
I started trying to move around, and my host felt tired already.   
“What the hell…?”  
Trying to control any part of them felt like wading through molasses. The last host wasn’t so hard to handle, so what was the problem with this one?  
Riley guided me through the orientation over the speakers, and soon enough I was in the first testing chamber. I managed to press the button at the same time as my host, though I could only drop their hand onto it rather than actually press it. Still, Riley deemed it good enough to proceed.  
The next testing chamber had a pair of gears, each with their own lever, that my host and I had to crank at the same time. I made the host reach out and grasp their lever, but all of a sudden I felt pain shoot through their joints. I made them let go out of instinct.  
“Ow!! What the--?!”  
“Is there something wrong?”  
I shuddered a little as I remembered the last time Riley caught something out of the ordinary.  
“Nope! Everything’s fine! I’m just...hoping I don’t...run out of time!”  
Yeesh. That rhyme wasn’t my best.  
I reached back out for the lever, had my host grasp it, and started turning. It felt like my host was being ripped apart, but I kept my mouth shut. I was determined to pass this test.  
“...You’ve passed this one. Carry on.”  
I let go of both levers and suppressed the urge to make any noise, even though my host’s hand felt like it was on fire.  
Then it was time to head into the next chamber, consumed in darkness. My host turned on my light without much trouble. Everything was going fine until I approached the Hand Puppet Coordination machine.  
I entered the control panel and turned on the machine, but having to switch control between myself and the host so quickly made my head hurt. Or maybe my host’s head hurt anyway. I wasn't sure.  
I missed one of the buttons, I heard a buzzing noise, and then one of three green lights turned red.  
 _Oh_ , **_fuck_**.   
I could feel my heart racing as I tried switching back and forth, seeing the command and executing it, having to flop that stupid dead weight arm onto a button and immediately getting a jolt of pain for no fucking reason--  
I guess you could say that was frustrating. 

Another red light. Another buzz. Another step closer to getting my stitches severed. I didn’t even have time to curse at the damn thing. When the last light turned red, I felt a terror growing from deep within me that could only be described as primal.  
And so, I fucking _booked it._  
It was a horrible feeling, having to fight through pain and exhaustion to move, much less run, but what choice did I have?!  
“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! GET BACK HERE, OR SO HELP ME, I’LL _GIVE_ YOU SOMETHING TO FEAR!!” Riley screeched over the speakers.  
I didn’t even know where I was going, but I didn’t care. The rooms got darker and darker until I reached the main stage.   
I ducked into the first room I found and hid amongst the mannequins.  
…  
... _holy shit, there are mannequins here_ , I thought.  
My host’s exhaustion was starting to get to me, but I fought it. This was no time to rest.  
I didn’t hear anyone coming after me, so I decided to have a look around.   
An eerie feeling hung in the air, like I was being watched.   
Then, I stumbled into the back of the room, where there was better lighting. I strained my eyes to see, and then instantly regretted doing so.   
I found something truly vile back there. Something that made my stomach turn in knots. I couldn’t—I can’t even describe it. It was the most grotesque thing I’d ever seen, and it made me start to wonder, was I next?!  
That’s when I heard footsteps coming my way.

I tried to run, but my host felt sluggish. I only made it a couple paces before falling with a loud THUMP.

Oh no.

They heard me.

“Get up—get up—GET UP!!!” I screamed at my host, as if I wasn’t controlling them.

I managed to get my host back up off the ground and I forced them to run as fast as their exhausted, pained limbs could carry them. I couldn’t look around, I couldn’t even think. All that propelled me was the chilling fear that I was about to end up like my sewing room counterparts. 

I heard the hissing of some of Riley’s experiments before my host finally gave out and I fell flat on my face.  
A figure approached me in the darkness as the fatigue finally set in—both for my host and me.  
I recognized the reflection of Mortimer’s monocle.  
Fuck. This day keeps on getting better and better, doesn’t it?  
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He asked, kneeling down and slinging my host over his host’s shoulder. “A runaway puppet, it would appear.”  
I didn’t respond.  
“And even though you tried your best, it seems you’ve failed one of Riley’s tests.”  
My host was laid out on one of Riley’s tables, with their arm awkwardly splayed out above them where I was attached.   
“You’ll have one more chance to prove yourself, Scout…”  
He leaned in so closely that I could count his teeth. “...but if you fail your third attempt, **_we watch your stuffing pour out._**  
Ta-ta~!”  
He left, and Riley arrived, giggling to herself in a way that made shivers run down my spine. That is...if I had a spine, I imagine that’s how it would have felt.  
She drew a knife, and I prepared myself to be torn from my host.  
I was not prepared for her to cut into them right then and there.  
I could feel the pain my host was going through, and as I cried out, I heard something else attempt to do the same.  
I froze.  
I heard my host make noise, all on their own. They couldn’t say much, of course, since their mouth was sewn shut, but it was obvious that they were trying to call for help, without any input from me.  
“Why— _What_ —?!” I stammered, looking to Riley for answers.  
Under her mask, I could see the outline of a smile creep across her face.  
“When a Host’s heart is starting to give out, sometimes they do a bit of thrashing about…”   
The host made a couple more noises of distress. In that one moment, I felt smaller than ever before. I wanted to resist this, I wanted to run, I wanted to punch Riley right in her creepy-ass face...  
...but the only thing I could do was shut my eyes and wait for it all to be over.  
-  
And there you have it! That’s how I ran into you.  
...what’s with that look? Was it something I said?


End file.
